Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2011-12: Kyle Pettit skated for the London Junior Knights Gold minor midget team in Ontario. He scored 14 goals with 18 assists and 14 penalty minutes in 30 regular season games. In 11 playoff games he scored 4 goals with 4 assists and 12 penalty minutes. The Junior Knights skated in the 2012 OHL Cup and in five games Pettit scored 1 goal with 1 assist and 6 penalty minutes. He was selected by the Erie Otters in the second round (27th overall) in the 2012 OHL Priority Draft.

2012-13: Pettit made his OHL debut as a 16-year-old and skated in 67 of 68 games for Erie in his rookie season. He scored 3 goals with 3 assists and was minus-10 with 21 penalty minutes. Erie finished last in the Midwest Division and missed the playoffs after finishing with the OHL’s second-worst record.

2013-14: Pettit played a two-way role for Erie in his second OHL season as the Erie Otters were one of the big turnaround stories in junior hockey; finishing second in the Midwest Division and reaching the OHL playoff semifinals. Overshadowed by high profile scorers like rookie Connor McDavid, he scored 5 goals with 5 assists in 53 games — missing 15 games due to a shoulder injury — and was +3 with 24 penalty minutes. In nine playoff games he was minus-3 with no points and 2 penalty minutes; missing five games after suffering a leg injury. Pettit was ranked 161st amongst North American skaters in the Central Scouting final rankings and was selected by Vancouver in the sixth round (156th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft.

Talent Analysis

Pettit is a big bodied forward who does the little things necessary to win hockey games. With average stick handling skills and limited offensive creativity, he is not a pure scorer but can chip in goals with a strong shot and a willingness to compete in the hard areas in front of the net. He is strong in the faceoff circle and is called upon for defensive zone faceoffs quite often. He is not a punishing player for his size and is judicious when deciding to make a big hit. He will use his size to take up space and prevent opponents from getting into scoring areas in his own zone. His skating stride still needs some attention and as with most big players flexibility and skating posture is a challenge. The strength of his game is his consistent from one shift to the next one.

Future

Pettit attended his first NHL training camp with the Canucks before returning to Erie for the 2014-15 season. Now in his third OHL season, he has tripled his offensive numbers from his first two seasons while continuing to be the top shutdown center on a team more known for high scoring 2015 draft-eligible forwards Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome. Long-term Pettit appears limited in terms of his offensive potential but his size, responsibility in the defensive zone and positional awareness suggests he can be a valuable lower line forward at the NHL level one day.

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Vancouver has iced very good rosters for a long time now. Despite having not yet won the Stanley Cup, the Canucks accomplished a lot in the 2000s on the strengths of Daniel and Henrik Sedin’s puck possession skills, Ryan Kesler’s defensive game, the goaltending of Roberto Luongo, and teams that were composed from top to bottom with strong talents who could drive play. The Sedins will be 35 years old when the 2015-16 season starts, Kesler and Luongo are gone, and though the team has performed well this season, it is no longer among the President’s Trophy favorites. Management has not had the luxury of lottery picks to build around, but there are several prospects in the system who will help ease the transition to a post-Sedin era, whenever that arrives.